Light bulbs consist of an air-tight glass enclosure (the envelope, or bulb) with a filament of metal inside the bulb, through which an electric current is passed. Contact wires and a base with two (or more) conductors provide electrical connections to the filament. Incandescent light bulbs usually contain a stem or glass mount anchored to the bulb's base that allows the electrical contacts to run through the envelope without air or gas leaks. The electrical contacts extend down to a conductive cap, which is connected to a lamp to power the bulb. Lamps have a screw base, also known as a socket, into which the cap is screwed. Thus, lightbulbs are screwed into and out of the screw base of lamps.
Light bulbs come in a variety of different shapes and sizes. Light sockets are also available in a variety of configurations, such as recessed sockets, protruding sockets, and sockets that face downwards, upwards, to the side, etc. Often, individuals must use ladders to reach the light bulbs for removal and installation. The ascending and descending of the ladder can be dangerous for the user, as the individual may fall while removing the light bulb from the socket. As a consequence, various extension rods with grasping calipers have been developed to help in the removal of light bulbs from high ceilings that aren't reachable from the ground. But the current solutions for removing and installing lightbulbs do not adequately automate the process and do not adequately account for the wide variety of shapes, sizes and configurations of lightbulbs and sockets.
Therefore, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above, and particularly for a more efficient way of automating the process of installing and removing lightbulbs from lamp sockets, especially in locations and configurations that are difficult to reach.